Books

I just finished reading The Devil of Nanking by Mo Hayder. I got this book on Wednesday and finished it the following Sunday. It was one of the most disturbing and hardest books to put down that I've ever come across.

Back during World War II, when Japan invaded China, the Japanese army committed numerous war atrocities in the city of Nanking. There was murder, rape, torture, which would all become known historically as the "Nanking Massacre" or "The Rape of Nanking." To this day it is a sensitive subject in Japan, so much so that The Devil of Nanking was not released there.

On the story, the main character, an english woman named "Grey", has traveled to modern-day Japan in search of a professor who is a survivor of the Nanking Massacre. It is said that he has a rare film, an actual recording of an atrocity that happened during that time. Grey seeks this because the horror rumored to be depicted in the film can help her better understand her own haunted past. The professor finally agrees to show her the film, but first she must do something for him. Grey's quest will lead her into the Japanese nightlife and its dangerous underworld, which has an odd and shocking connection with the past.

Read it.

Read World War Z by Max Brooks (son of Mel Brooks). Even if you don't like zombies (I'm certainly not what you would call a "fan"), it really has less to do with zombies as it does the human condition; i.e. reaction to crisis. It's easily one of my favorite novels! I read it all in a day! Absolutely brilliant! I won't detail it the plot since that would give much of it away, but it's written exactly like a true oral history, a series of small vignettes about people who survived the "Zombie War" that explores the human condition and humanity, addressing the numerous, numerous issues that plague society in the modern day, all against the backdrop of a zombie outbreak (i.e. zombies are not in the fore). Reader reviews seem to indicate that most people were actually not even aware of a lot of global issues/crises until they read this book!

 

READ IT!

Definitely agreed, it is one of my favorite single novels.

I purchased Guns, Germs, and Steel, by Jared Diamond, today. I watched a documentary he made based on the book awhile ago, and after watching it I have been interested in reading his book.

The main point of his book is to explain how certain cultures ended up more technologically advanced as opposed to others based on their geography. He argues that the geography in Europe and parts of Asia made it possible for the peoples there to shift from a hunter/gatherer/nomad society to farmers, who eventually raised livestock, and so forth and so on. He uses New Guinea as a prime example, and argues that the aboriginal people living there are more intelligent than people in MDCs, but their geographic location made it impossible for their society to advance past that of hunter/gatherers.

I am really excited to get into this book and read more in-depth on his theories.

Here is a link to a simple synopsis of the book

That appears insurmountably dull to my eye, but to each his own- enjoy it... nerd!

I'm reading Bull's Eyes and Misfires: Fifty Men and Women whose Efforts Shaped the Civil War" For a clearance book it's rather good, though it has an annoying habit of mislabeling some people in my opinion.

Basically it looks at individual soldiers and leaders whose efforts helped to make or break certain battles. One fellow helped lose the Union the first battle of Bull Run when he failed to fire upon Confederate troops just because they were wearing blue- he could have killed Stonewalll Jackson if he'd fired on the other troops. One fellow won Gettysburg by noting the Confederates' poor use of cannons, which caused him to preserve shot and ammo, decimating what was supposed to be a surprise infantry attack.

Very interesting stuff, but somewhat depressing- almost all of the "top-in-their-class" West Pointers turned out to be misfires, while bottom-of-the-barrel commanders wound up winning it all. I sincerely hope we don't have another war, because I'd be a poor leader in it.

Yeah, I know, a double post...

This was also posted in the Legacy of the Force thread:

For anyone who hasn't read any of the Legacy of the Force books and is interested, if you're just cheap and want a free book, Del Rey is offering Betrayal as a free download, as a PDF file, audiofile, Sony e-reader file. Even though I own the book, I'm downloading the audiobook for those long stays at airports. Here's the site:

http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/starwars/sw_legacy.html

Neat SOCL. I haven't really bothered with Legacy, as the story direction doesn't really float my boat. From what I've heard about it, a lot of the resolution in NJO has changed (For example, how the HELL is Thracken back and in a seat of power! This might have been due to the trilogy set before it though, the one with the big bugs from Alderaan - nevertheless, it's a lame and over used character who will obviously try to make Corellia independant and do other crap to piss off the galaxy) - but it'll be nice to read a novel from the series to get some better perspective.

Possible spoilers bellow ... maybe, it's all hearsay.

Not sure if I'll bother with the rest of the series yet. I can't speak whole heartedly about the series plot (seeing I'm going by what I've read on line), but as far as I understand it I kinda like the Corellian insurrection again and the sabotage. Don't even mind old friends fighting. But it does strike me as odd that the GFFA (of which, the new name REALLY bugs me) can't over whelm them, that Corellia gets away with making a massive hidden fleet again, Luke's new discoveries with the force in NJO don't seem to have much impact here.

Don't get me wrong, the darker nature of these novels (as with the NJO) often make the series better, but the NJO seemed unique in a sense whereas I get the feeling a lot of the plot (and not the actual fine details) are going to repeat. Galaxy falling apart. Friendships breaking down. Death of main characters. Characters turning to the dark side.

I don't know ... but I'd have liked some sort of different progression - interaction between realms. I'd have preferred that the Empire and NR stayed apart and that the Chiss became a major player. Throw in some other sectors like the Corporate thingy and some smaller ones and play around with them and have a progressive war with multiple sides.

*shrugs* Maybe it's just because I've been reading battle tech novels after the NJO I liked the way things worked there, mature realistic plots...to an extent. Or maybe its just that going between authors of Star Wars novels often makes things blurry - one minute the galaxy is massive with hundreds of thousands of planets and species, the next we deal with the one planet we've heard of again and again and again. In another thread, someone mentioned (I believe it was either Evaders or Eagle in the Clone Wars TV series) similar, with regards to Tatooine - a backwater planet with more novel time than Coruscant. Which is an annoying theme in Star Wars novels, that the author often gets "stuck" on something - reusing the same species, places, ship types etc.

Maybe I just want something that feels more complete and more consistent Or maybe I've just given up on the EU.

It feels as if they are leading up to the comic book series of the same name (Legacy of the Force, or is it just legacy?), where things have seemed to have severelly changed - no Jedi, Skywalker family is riff raff, Empire has left the GFFA, evil Sith pops up etc. Personally, I think if they wanted to do that they should have used the Unknown region for this sort of individual plot where it doesn't have its mass roll on effect on the way things were headed in the EU novels

EDIT:

Okie dokie - so I'm upto page 170 something, and I'm enjoying the majority of the novel. So much so, even knowing spoilers of further novels, I'm being tempted to continue reading.

That's not to say it's perfect. Having Aaron Allston write the novel was a big plus - I love his novels, as they often have great, witty character scenes, are fun and exciting. And so far so good. Buuut, as I mentioned it ain't perfect(Get it? Grammar imperfection...that felt like a Tofu moment). The way Jedi are being portrayed as commandos for the GA, I don't like. I don't mind their "super soldier" portrayal, I don't mind the missions so much, but the way they're executed and the way that the GA seems to be ordering them around makes no sense to me after the NJO. And also Ben/Anakin scene ... that was weird ... and felt like something from an old Star Wars novel, in a bad way

*Blows off dust* Read, people! Okay, so this is coming from a guy who just reread the Wraith Squadron trilogy for, I dunno, the sixth time, but still...

Based upon SOCL's recommendation some time back, I picked up World War Z from the library. Actually, it was only partially because SOCL recommended it- it was mostly because I found it hilarious that the library I was in was the one library stupid enough to file World War Z under the nonfiction section. Way to go, guys!

Anyway, I've started it and I must say that I like it. It isn't exactly an action book, though by the same token there is some action- there's the pure terror of seeing these zombies coming around, and the terror of how human nature only lets it spread. Our compassion, our love- these are the things that lead to our downfall. I'm not too far into it yet (The zombies have only just reached America), but it's good and getting better.

I should really be reading The Things They Carried instead of World War Z, seeing as the former is one of two books required for a class for next year, but oh well- this book is better than that book.